Chapter Summaries

Li Yan brought the stubborn gray stone into Tuban to suppress and refine it, but the stone began devouring Tuban’s earth spiritual qi and draining its origin. Li Yan moved to sever its connection to Tuban and forcibly refine it, even if the stone shattered.

• Li Yan realized his Void Refinement Realm cultivation could not fully suppress the stone’s higher-level laws, despite his Body Integration-level combat strength.
• Li Yan carried the rune-bound stone into Tuban, where he expected its laws to let him suppress it completely.
• Li Yan removed the runes and prepared to cast a new refinement technique, but Tuban’s sky, river, and grass changed without his control.
• The gray stone rapidly absorbed Tuban’s dense earth spiritual qi, recovering as it drained the magic treasure’s origin.
• Li Yan recognized the stone’s devouring and swept his sleeve to sever its connection to Tuban, intending to refine it even if it shattered.

Li Yan watched a black stone resist his powers, then fly into the mountain and trigger sweeping changes throughout Tuban. After the space gained forty-nine stars, a wider river, and a new peak, Li Yan investigated the stone’s resting place and discovered the transformation had altered the landscape.

• Li Yan tried to restrain the recovering black stone, but it repelled his restriction and resisted his attempt to pull it out of Tuban.
• Li Yan began forming a powerful attack with his Guiyi Water-Parting Spikes, but a boom behind him drew his attention to the mountain turning indistinct.
• The black stone flew into the mountainside, where its devouring vortex vanished and its color faded to match the mountain.
• Tuban’s sky cleared and gained forty-nine stars, while the river widened to more than twice its former width.
• Li Yan examined the stone’s mark on the mountainside and discovered that a peak sixty percent shorter than the existing mountain had appeared behind it.

Li Yan discovered that the black stone had become a subsidiary mountain fused into Tuban, expanding and strengthening the magical treasure while falling silent. After investigating the changes, he returned to the underground cavern and resumed cultivating.

• Li Yan explored the new black-rock mountain and found it contained dense earth spiritual energy but no caves or resisting will.
• Li Yan tested the mountain with wood spiritual power, then altered its terrain with a thought and realized he could no longer remove it from Tuban.
• Li Yan sensed that Tuban had expanded by more than ten percent and gained greater spiritual energy, stronger earth laws, and increased sturdiness.
• Li Yan concluded that Tuban had suppressed and fused the black stone, leaving no way to draw it out or refine it as a helper.
• Li Yan returned to the underground cavern, put away his avatar, and sat down to cultivate within the formation.

Li Yan trained brutally in Black Flame Mountain, using its extreme gravity to refine Nine Cauldrons Gui Water and strengthen his body, soul, and other techniques. He emerged after a little over a year far stronger but gaunt, and learned from Mu Guyue’s jade slip that she had been sent on a mission.

• Li Yan settled in an underground cavern and began studying Nine Cauldrons Gui Water under Black Flame Mountain’s intense gravity.
• After half a month, Li Yan left the cavern and pushed deeper into the mountain, training his body and techniques as he went.
• Li Yan repeatedly drove himself to the edge of death while cultivating, using prepared pills to survive and refining his Dao and soul techniques.
• After a little over a year, Li Yan emerged from Black Flame Mountain thinner but much stronger, with his various Dao Paths more balanced.
• Li Yan returned to his residence in Black Flame City and found Mu Guyue absent, with a jade slip explaining that she had been sent on a mission.

Li Yan visited Mu Sha at the military camp and praised how the battle had tempered his cultivation along his Dao of slaughter. He warned that Mu Sha’s unusually dense killing intent might signal a problem, leaving Mu Sha reconsidering what he had assumed was a harmless benefit.

• Li Yan read Mu Guyue’s jade slip and traveled to Mu Sha’s camp outside Black Flame City.
• The camp guards recognized Li Yan and sent word to Mu Sha, who came to meet him.
• Li Yan asked Mu Sha to speak inside so Mu Sha could maintain his authority before the soldiers.
• Li Yan praised Mu Sha’s progress after the battle, then pointed out that his killing intent had grown denser than that of other Devil Marshals.
• Mu Sha recalled that the slaughter had strengthened him and that his killing intent was fading, but Li Yan’s warning made him question whether it was truly harmless.

Li Yan explained that Mu Sha’s unusually dense killing aura came from his strengthened soul absorbing too much slaughter during the recent battle, and taught him a technique to dispel it. He then awkwardly urged Mu Sha to consider finding a partner and continuing the family line, leaving Mu Sha embarrassed but agreeing to think about it.

• Li Yan told Mu Sha that his Soul Cultivator techniques had strengthened his soul, allowing him to absorb dangerous amounts of killing aura during the battle.
• Li Yan taught Mu Sha a soul technique to disperse the killing aura, and Mu Sha practiced it under his father’s supervision.
• Li Yan asked Mu Sha whether he had a woman he favored, startling him with the unexpected question.
• Mu Sha explained that he had focused on becoming stronger and had not considered romance amid the demands of clan life and war.
• Li Yan promised that the clan would provide more resources after the battle and urged Mu Sha to consider his personal affairs and bring him good news.
• Mu Sha embarrassedly agreed to think about finding a partner.

Li Yan guided Mu Sha through his cultivation questions before departing, while Mu Sha recognized his father's sacrifices and resolved to follow him on a greater immortal path. After Li Yan reunited with Mu Guyue, she and Mu Sha received new posts away from the front lines, giving Li Yan confidence that they would be safe.

• Li Yan answered Mu Sha's cultivation questions and left him time to reflect, then told him he would probably leave soon.
• Mu Sha remembered how Li Yan had protected and cared for him and Mu Guyue, and vowed to grow stronger and eventually fight beside his father.
• Li Yan returned to the city to heal his hidden injuries, then visited Mu Guyue when she opened her courtyard gate.
• A year later, Mu Guyue's army began withdrawing from the front, and Mu Guyue and Mu Sha received transfer orders to posts in Guanglu Hall and Wucheng Hall.

Li Yan learned why Mu Guyue and Mu Sha had been given influential posts in the Black Devil Race, and heard news of the Phoenix Four Clans’ escape and the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan’s war with the Black Devil Race. The Black Devil Race planned to defend its newly acquired territory and wear down its weakened opponent.

• The Black Devil Race rewarded Mu Guyue and Mu Sha with posts in the Hall of Provisioning and the Hall of Martial Achievement, recognizing the Grey Mask’s contributions and securing the pair’s future influence.
• Li Yan learned that three Demon Venerable incarnations had helped the Phoenix Four Clans escape the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan, with one incarnation still escorting them to safety.
• The Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan attacked territory formerly held by the Red-Eyed Flame-Horn Beast Clan, and the Black Devil Race met the assault with a defensive deployment.
• The Black Devil Race concluded that the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan had been badly weakened by the loss of the Phoenix Four Clans and the destruction of its elite army.
• The Black Devil Race chose to avoid a major war and slowly wear down the Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan in a prolonged defensive standoff.

Li Yan said farewell to Mu Guyue and Mu Sha beside a lake and left the Black Devil Race after giving them cultivation materials and instructions. He flew toward a marketplace city to teleport onward, choosing to check whether Zuo Qiudan remained at his former location.

• Li Yan assessed that the weakened Nine-Headed Green Phoenix Clan could soon face an attack from the Black Devil Race, but decided its fate no longer concerned him.
• Mu Guyue and Mu Sha returned to the Black Devil Race, where Li Yan spent several days with them before deciding to leave.
• Li Yan warned Mu Guyue and Mu Sha to be cautious and gave them Silver Sand, Blood River water, and Undying Underworld Phoenix marrow to refine.
• Li Yan bade farewell to Mu Guyue and Mu Sha beside a lake and flew away as they watched him disappear into the distance.
• Li Yan disguised himself as a scholar and headed for a marketplace city, intending to teleport onward and find out whether Zuo Qiudan was still there.

Li Yan returned to the Cangxuan Realm and pieced together maps as he traveled south toward the Wangliang Sect. After months of largely uneventful travel, he left a remote sect’s teleportation array and vanished into a snowstorm when he sensed something amiss.

• Li Yan found that Black Flame Stones fused only with the smaller mountain inside "Tuban," but he could not determine why.
• Li Yan failed to find Zuo Qiudan in a city and teleported to the northern Cangxuan Realm instead.
• Li Yan bought map jade slips, assembled a route toward the Wangliang Sect, and continued south by teleportation and flight.
• After four months, Li Yan left a remote minor sect’s teleportation array and prepared to fly across a long stretch without convenient teleportation points.
• Li Yan sensed something as he rose into the air, concealed his aura in the snowstorm, and watched three other cultivators depart in separate directions.

Li Yan secretly pursued a black flying boat and discovered that its two passengers had concealed their powerful Void Refinement cultivation. He recognized conflicting water- and fire-element auras on the boat and suspected it was connected to the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect.

• Li Yan sensed unusual fluctuations in the black flying boat as it departed and followed it through the blizzard without revealing himself.
• Li Yan caught up with the boat and discovered that the fat cultivator was at Void Refinement Early Stage and the brown-robed elder was at Void Refinement late stage.
• Li Yan overheard the men mention returning early and hoping events would unfold as Martial Uncle Su had predicted.
• Li Yan observed the boat's red lights and sensed cold and heat emanating from it, leading him to suspect a connection to the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect.

Li Yan suspected the two Void Refinement Realm cultivators were connected to the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect and followed them through the snowy wilderness. Their journey was interrupted when Zheng Youlin appeared, and the two travelers realized his story did not add up and surrounded him.

• Li Yan suspected the cultivators were tied to the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect and changed direction to investigate them from a distance.
• The fat cultivator and the brown-robed old man traveled through the snow toward the Sword Book Sect, while nearby cultivators and Demon Beasts avoided their powerful auras.
• The brown-robed old man and the fat cultivator recognized Zheng Youlin approaching through the storm and asked about his companion, Jiang Tianqing.
• Zheng Youlin claimed he and Jiang Tianqing had been ordered to handle matters in the area, but the fat cultivator and the brown-robed old man grew suspicious.
• The fat cultivator and the brown-robed old man appeared beside Zheng Youlin, surrounded him, and demanded to know who he really was.

Li Yan disguised himself as Zheng Youlin to test two cultivators and confirmed they belonged to the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect. He revealed himself as a Five Immortals Sect cultivator and attacked them, seeking to test their techniques while venting his long-suppressed anger toward their sect.

• Li Yan's disguise aroused suspicion when he could not name the two cultivators, and they exposed him as an impostor.
• Li Yan revealed his Five Elements aura, confirming that the men were Yin-Yang Chaos Sect cultivators and exposing their true realms.
• The brown-robed elder and the fat cultivator recognized Li Yan as a Five Immortals Sect cultivator and moved to seize him.
• Li Yan attacked the fat cultivator with a black droplet and the brown-robed elder with a Guiyi Water-Parting Spike.
• Li Yan chose to fight using only Five Immortals Sect techniques, driven partly by his resentment over the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect's role in separating him from those he cared about.

Li Yan fought two cultivators of the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect, whose knowledge of the Five Immortals Sect’s treasures and arts let them counter his attacks. He overwhelmed the fat cultivator with the black droplet, leaving him badly injured as the battle continued against the brown-robed elder.

• Li Yan struck the brown-robed elder with the Guiyi Water-Parting Spike, but the elder identified it and countered with a razor-edged silver disc.
• The elder’s silver disc struck Li Yan’s bonded treasure without being disrupted by Subduing Wave Soul-Killing, revealing his familiarity with the Five Immortals Sect’s secret arts.
• The fat cultivator attacked Li Yan with a red cloth covered in grotesque faces, but Li Yan’s black droplet shattered its scarlet flame and drove the fat cultivator back.
• Li Yan’s black droplet broke through the red cloud, exploded the old woman’s head of flame, and sent the fat cultivator flying as he spat blood.

Li Yan crippled the fat cultivator with his five-layer Nine Cauldrons Gui Water attack, but the man escaped with his Nascent Soul. The brown-robed old man then unleashed a powerful, ever-changing yin-yang attack, while mistaking Li Yan for the inexperienced Ling Yao.

• Li Yan’s black water droplet combined five layers of force and smashed the fat cultivator’s body in half.
• The fat cultivator escaped by teleporting his Nascent Soul away, and Li Yan chose not to pursue him.
• Li Yan recalled his black water droplet and mocked the brown-robed old man for his sect’s talent for fleeing when outmatched.
• The brown-robed old man enlarged his silver disc into a wheel of light and sent it forward with two snow dragons, all three attacks shifting between elemental powers.
• The brown-robed old man mistook Li Yan for Ling Yao and assumed her limited experience in spell battles left her vulnerable.

Li Yan defeated the brown-robed elder with overwhelming Gui Water power and subdued him using Gui Water Eye. He returned to Tuban with the elder, where the fat cultivator’s Nascent Soul was already trapped in the Ghost Trace formation.

• Li Yan’s black droplets destroyed the brown-robed elder’s snow dragons, and his Guiyi Water-Parting Spike knocked away the elder’s giant wheel and sent him flying.
• The brown-robed elder recognized Li Yan’s strength as beyond the Void Refinement Realm and tried to flee.
• Li Yan’s Gui Water Eye pinned the elder’s soul, allowing Li Yan to seize him, imprison his Nascent Soul, and seal his powers.
• Li Yan tossed the elder into Tuban, set up another formation beneath the wasteland, and returned to Tuban in his main body.
• Li Yan found the brown-robed elder and the fat cultivator’s trapped Nascent Soul in a cave, where the Ghost Trace formation had kept the Nascent Soul from escaping.

Li Yan soul-searched Yu Mingshan and Sha Weigang and discovered that the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect’s Qianyu Sect had been laying a trap for suspected Five Immortals Sect cultivators. He realized the two men had been helping prepare the bait, and the chapter left him troubled by what he had learned.

• Li Yan soul-searched Yu Mingshan, avoided the sealed cultivation arts, and then searched Sha Weigang after discovering startling recent memories.
• Li Yan learned that Yu Mingshan and Sha Weigang traveled to gather intelligence and identify forces the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect could exploit.
• Li Yan discovered that Qianyu Sect was a covert subsidiary of the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect, posing as an ordinary second-rate sect.
• Yu Mingshan and Sha Weigang learned that Qianyu Sect had detected a suspected Five Immortals Sect cultivator investigating it and planned to lure more such cultivators into a reverse ambush.
• Yu Mingshan and Sha Weigang spent three years placing lures in their assigned area, then received orders to return to Qianyu Sect and await further instructions.

After learning that the Qianyu Sect was preparing a trap for Five Immortals Sect cultivators, Li Yan feared that Senior Brother Mo Sen and another senior brother had fallen into danger. Unable to locate them, he decided to investigate the Qianyu Sect’s plans himself and try to disrupt them before they could strike.

• Li Yan learned from Yu Mingshan and Sha Weigang’s memories that a Body Integration Realm cultivator of the Qianyu Sect had organized a long-running plan to lure out high-level Five Immortals Sect cultivators.
• Li Yan connected reports of two suspected metal-element cultivators with Senior Brother Mo Sen and Jiang Xuan, and worried that they were in danger.
• Li Yan realized that Yu Mingshan and Sha Weigang lacked information about the other parts of the plan, leaving him unable to track the suspected Five Immortals Sect cultivators.
• Li Yan considered killing the two unconscious men but decided to keep them alive while he sought a way to prevent the Qianyu Sect’s scheme.
• Li Yan resolved to investigate the Qianyu Sect and disrupt its plan, then leave rumors and warning marks that might alert Senior Brother Mo Sen and the others.

Li Yan raced toward the Qianyu Sect without using teleportation, hoping to reach it before the sect questioned Yu Mingshan and the other man’s absence. He secretly infiltrated the sect and confirmed that its protective formation was only as strong as he had expected, leaving him prepared to proceed with his plan.

• Li Yan set out for the Qianyu Sect and hurried across the snowy wilderness using several movement techniques in rotation.
• Li Yan reached the valley at night, disguised himself with the Reality-Muddling Pill, and studied the Qianyu Sect’s formation from outside.
• Li Yan decided to infiltrate with the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief so he could confirm the formation’s strength and prepare an escape route.
• Li Yan entered through a fissure in the formation on a mountain peak after spending more than an hour breaking through it.
• Li Yan judged that the formation could withstand several attacks from a Body Integration Realm cultivator, confirming his earlier assessment.

Li Yan infiltrated Qianyu Sect to disrupt its secret plan, leaving his true body disguised at a hidden sentry post while his avatar searched the sect. He confirmed that the sect’s Body Integration Realm ancestor remained inside, but could not determine whether other powerful outsiders had arrived, and continued assessing the danger before making his move.

• Li Yan observed the inner valley entrance, discovered four hidden sentry points, and left his true body disguised at one while an avatar departed.
• Li Yan subdued the sentry’s Nascent Soul Cultivator and used Soul Search to learn Qianyu Sect’s layout and that its Body Integration Realm ancestor had not left.
• Li Yan infiltrated the sect at night and checked guest quarters for signs that other Body Integration Realm experts were present.
• Li Yan searched the area where Void Refinement Realm cultivators lived, finding four and considering how their presence might affect his plan.
• Li Yan avoided Qianyu Sect’s guarded repositories of cultivation techniques, magical treasures, and medicinal pills as he continued his reconnaissance.